PYJ

Not so perfect, not so young

Friday, April 07, 2006

The Gold Standard

Part of the speech and language assessment process for a child is a hearing screening. It's a very simple procedure, and can involve using a portable audiometer or an audiometer in a sound booth. Some kids DO NOT LIKE IT because of having to wear the bulky headphones, or having to enter a sound booth, but other kids don't mind having it done.

Yesterday, I saw the second kind of child have his hearing screened, and it absolutely made my day. The little guy was in the sound booth, and was looking out through the window, wearing headphones and the BIGGEST SMILE that I have ever seen. It was a smile of pure and utter open-mouthed joy and excitement. He eagerly shot his hand into the air as he heard each test beep. The smile did not fade through the whole screening. His mom had never seen him so happy.

That child should be sent around to participate in assessment with speech pathologists, just to give them a break from the average child, who doesn't behave as though assessment is a lot like Christmas morning and a birthday party and summer vacation and a new puppy all rolled into one.

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